Chile: Santiago metro in 'tolerance-for-all' campaign

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A campaign to promote tolerance towards gay people - as well as people with disabilities, pregnant women and the elderly - has been launched on the metro in Santiago, it is reported.

Posters urging respect and diversity are up in all 108 of the Chilean capital's metro stations, the Santiago Times reports. The project is a collaborative effort by the metro and the Chilean Movement for Integration and Homosexual Freedom (Movilh), and is backed by the EU.

At the heart of the project is the city's Metro Universidad Catolica station - which is near the spot where Daniel Zamudio, a 24-year-old gay man, was murdered in March 2012. More tolerance and respect would mean "a better metro, to be better people, a better city", says Santiago Metro chief Ramon Canas, speaking at the campaign launch on Tuesday.

Despite Chile's reputation as one of Latin America's most socially conservative countries, Mr Zamudio's killing is seen as a turning point in changing Chilean attitudes to gays and lesbians. Gay sex was decriminalised in Chile in 1999, and gay marriage is not legally recognised, although President Michelle Bachelet has voiced support for same-sex unions.

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